Last Kiss
by Cuda77
Summary: The group is heading to the mountains to celebrate New Year's when Jeff and Annie's car gets into a terrible accident. Future!fic. Character death. Inspired by "Last Kiss" by Wayne Cochran/Pearl Jam.


**Community and everything to do with it does not belong to me. I'm just writing this for fun and have little to no money so suing me over it really wouldn't accomplish anything.**

A/N: Oh god, I really don't know what my mind was thinking with this one. It's been a really depressing week for me and today, for whatever reason, my muse just would not stop bugging me about this story nugget. I'll just warn you now that this isn't going to be a pleasant one and will likely cause all of the negative feels. But I hope that despite the likely depression and resentment you feel towards me for writing this, you'll still find it a good story. Here goes nothing...

* * *

It's a dark, snowy night in the wilderness of Colorado as Abed Nadir is having trouble focusing on his driving. It's not Pierce in the seat next to him, fast asleep and snoring loudly that's breaking his concentration, nor is it the faint sucking sounds, heavy breathing and occasional moans coming from his best friend Troy and his girlfriend Britta are passionately making out in the back seat of Pierce's SUV. It's the way the snow is falling on the windshield of the car that has Abed mesmerized. There's a real beauty to the weather right now. He'd love more than anything to be able to stop the car, pull out his camera and film some nice shots of the snow falling, probably to use for some establishing shots or stock footage for an upcoming film. But he knows that would be out of the question since they are already running well behind schedule.

It had been a couple years since the group known as the Greendale Seven had graduated from Greendale Community College and this was only the second time since graduating that the group had found time to all get together again. The first time had been for a Independence Day pool party and barbecue that Shirley and Andre had thrown at their house and now they were heading to a condo Pierce had in Aspen to spend New Year's together on a ski trip. But like most times the group had tried to do something together, there was a certain amount of conflict. There had been a few arguments between everyone while the group was gathered at Jeff's before taking off such as whose cars they were taking and who was driving and what route they were going to take. The stress was further intensified by the fact that Pierce was running late due to constantly remembering supplies he'd need and Shirley's boys getting restless and generally irritating everyone with their antics. And there was also the looming threat of snow that night to make driving potentially difficult. Once everyone had gathered and they were all set to go, it was around midnight and then started a discussion of if they should wait until morning to head out. But Pierce reminded them that if they weren't checked in by morning, the condo reservation would be lost and someone else would be able to rent it. So with that thought in mind, the group set out in the dead of night for Aspen.

Now they are just a half hour or so outside of Greendale with Abed driving Pierce's SUV with Pierce, Troy and Britta with him, Shirley and Andre and their kids behind them in their minivan and Jeff's Lexus leading the procession with Annie driving with him. Jeff and Annie had finally gotten together at a New Year's party during their final year at Greendale and after over three years of skirting around each other with neither being able to fully admit their feelings, they seemed intent on making up for lost time once they finally did get together. Their relationship progressed at a furious pace, capped off by Jeff asking Annie to move in with him as a graduation present. She'd accepted and the two had been very happy together since. Jeff had secretly confided in Abed that he was planning to propose to Annie at midnight on New Year's it would be their two year anniversary then and he knew she was his true, great love that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Abed simply quirked his head and gave a faint smile to Jeff before declaring his intentions to be cool, cool, cool.

Abed is hoping to get the moment on film but he is more focused on other possible projects to do while on this trip. He's always wanted to film a classic ski resort story and is thinking of way to try and make it work. He knows the group is going to be more interested in skiing than helping him with his movie so he has to think up ways to film them and make it look like Pierce is trying to buy the local community center to turn it into a mini mall but Troy won't let him and challenges Pierce's son, hotshot ski instructor Jeff to a race down the double black diamond run for the rights to the community center. The car gradually eases down a hill and rounds a curve while Abed is considering who'd play the love interest since both Britta and Annie would work for the role. But then Abed notices a car with its hazard lights on parked in the middle of the road. Everything then becomes slow motion in Abed's mind

From the lights on Jeff's Lexus, Abed can see someone standing behind it desperately trying to push the car. A split second later, Jeff's brake lights light up as he tries to stop before hitting them. Jeff's car doesn't slow down due to the fresh snow on the ground causing a lack of traction and Abed sees the car try to swerve. But it is to no avail and just as the person pushing the broken down car dives out of the way, the passenger side of Jeff's car slams into the back of the parked car with a sickening crunching sound mixed with glass shattering. With his eyes wide in horror as he slams on the brakes to avoid the accident himself, Abed watches as Jeff's Lexus goes airborne and careens over the guardrail and tumbles out of sight down the embankment.

"Jesus Christ, A-bed," yells Pierce as he is whiplashed against his seat belt, jerking him violently awake. "I might have dislocated my hip there! What the hell did you stop for?!"

"Was that a crash I heard?" asks Troy as he rubs his shoulder gingerly from where the seatbelt had cut into it.

"Oh my god, it was," Britta says hollowly, her pale skin going even whiter as she saw the damage in front of her. The man who had been trying to push the stalled car iss back up on his feet and trying to get at whoever was in the driver's seat of their now destroyed car. But everyone in the SUV's gaze is locked on the gap that's appeared in the guardrail and the pieces of sheet metal lying strewn about on the road. A faint orange glow comes into view and Abed can only deduce that the car must now be on fire.

"Troy," Abed says stiffly, trying to choke back tears, "call 911."

* * *

The first thing Jeff feels when he wakes up is the snow gently falling on his face. But then the pain hits him and he groans out in agony. For the life of him, he can't think of why he'd be in such intense pain and lying in the snow but then the memory hits him quick. Annie's hand holding his. Her snuggled up against his arm and humming along with "Faithfully" by Journey. Him smiling down at her and kissing the top of her head. Looking back up to see the car in the middle of the road with their hazards on. Him trying to slam on the brakes. Annie screaming. The car lurching as it tried to get traction. A loud crash. Silence and darkness.

"Annie…" Jeff moans out, trying to find his girlfriend. He tries to get to his feet but his legs won't move. He sees the ground around him has been stained pink and red from the blood coming from his body. He sees the twisted remains of his car about 10 feet away where there's a small fire burning on what used to be the front end. Jeff flops onto his stomach and starts crawling towards the car, thinking Annie must still be trapped inside. He faintly hears voices yelling his and Annie's names and in the distance, he can see his friends scrambling down the embankment trying to get to them.

Jeff finally reaches the car and grabs at the door handle for the crushed passenger door. He gives it a light tug using all the strength he can muster and the door gets ripped right off its broken hinges, crashing down onto Jeff's back. Already nearly blind with pain, Jeff refuses to give up as he shoves the door off of him and sees Annie's limp body still sitting in her seat, blood cascading down onto the seat and floor. Jeff pulls himself up into the car and grabs hold of Annie's thankfully still warm hand. Just as he does, the group all arrives at the scene of the destruction, speechless by what they're seeing.

"Annie, please wake up," pleads Jeff as he lightly strokes Annie's battered face. He trails his hand down her cheek and neck to her chest where he rests his hand to try and feel her heartbeat. Britta steps forward to try and help somehow but Jeff bats her away. He then reaches around Annie's body and and unbuckles her seatbelt. Jeff then tries to pull her down to the ground with him but he is to weak to support her body. Troy and Abed see what he's trying to do and step up to grab onto Annie and gently lower her next to Jeff in the snow. The two then strip off their jackets and cover Jeff and Annie with them to protect from the cold. Britta, Shirley and Pierce quickly follow suit as Jeff snuggles in close against Annie. Finally, a faint moan escapes Annie's lips and she shivers violently. Jeff wraps his arms around her and holds onto his shaking lover.

"Jeff?"

"Shh, it's okay baby. We'll be okay."

"Are you hurt?"

"I can't move my legs but otherwise I think I'll be okay. How about you?"

"I feel really tired and cold."

"Just hold on Annie. The ambulance is on the way and they'll fix us up."

"I'm bleeding all over the place. I don't know if I'll make it, Jeff."

"No, don't talk like that Annie. We're going to be fine."

"Ok, I trust you honey Just hold onto me for a little while."

"It's going to be okay…it's going to be okay…"

Jeff is trying to convince himself of that just as much as he is trying to convince Annie. He is vaguely aware of the sounds of sobbing around him and he looks up to see a distraught Pierce being comforted by Shirley while Troy, Britta and Abed are all huddled together and crying softly.

"Jeff, will you do me a favor?"

"Sure baby, what do you need?"

"Could you kiss me? Just one last time?"

"It's not the last time Annie. We'll be okay."

"I know. But in case we're not, I want one last kiss."

Jeff swallows hard and dips his head down to find Annie's lips. They are badly swollen and he tastes the bitterness of her blood but he still kisses her just like he had at midnight almost two years ago. When they break apart, Jeff feels the bitter sting of tears mixing with the blood dripping into his eyes. He knows that things looked very bad and he might not have much time left with Annie. With that thought in mind, Jeff reaches into his pocket inside of his peacoat and pulls out a small box. He then grabs Annie's left hand and guides it out from the jacket blanket so she can see what he's about to do.

"I was planning to do this at midnight tomorrow but just in case we don't make it that far, I want you to have this. When we make it out of this, I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I want to grow old and have kids and be madly in love with you forever. So Annie Edison, will you marry me?"

Jeff opens the box to reveal a shimmering diamond ring inside. Annie sobs from the emotion and also from the intense pain she's in but manages to nod vigorously since she's too choked up to vocalize her acceptance. Jeff slips the ring onto her ring finger and kisses her once more. Everybody is now loudly bawling around them as the sound of sirens can faintly be heard in the distance and there are splashes of red and blue lights that paint over the landscape. Annie tucks her arm back inside of their blanket and hugs herself as close to Jeff as she can get. Jeff hugs her back and runs his fingers through her hair that's been matted and tangled from the blood flowing into it and the moisture of the snow. The sirens grow louder and Jeff is aching for them to get down to them. Against him, he can feel Annie's breaths getting shorter and shorter. Finally the emergency vehicles arrive on the scene and the sirens are shut off while the red and blue emergency lights bathe the scene in bright light.

And as he hears the EMT's scrambling to gather up their equipment, Jeff feels Annie let out a final gasping breath and feels her body go limp. Jeff's entire body goes numb as he clutches Annie's body against him and lets out a horrible, painful wail. Tears are streaming down his cheeks but stop after only a few inches as they immediately start freezing to his face. The technicians get to the car and start to pull Annie's body away from him. Jeff is delirious as he tries to hold onto her but they break his grip and get him strapped to a back board. Jeff is thrashing about as he bawls, making things difficult for the EMT's trying to help him. One of them pulls out a hypodermic needle and jabs it into Jeff's neck. As the tranquilizer starts to take its effect, Jeff looks back one last time to where Annie is and he sees her face for the last time as it disappears into a bodybag. Jeff's eyes close and the last thing he hears before drifting off to sleep is the crying of his friends and the chatter of the EMT's. With one final breath, Jeff feels himself fall away and he loses consciousness, hoping he never has to wake up to a life without his Annie.


End file.
